International Women’s Day – Serena Oppenheim

March 8, 2019

2 min read

For IWD 2019 we're reaching out to the amazing women who featured in our 2018 campaign and asking them to share the lessons they've learned this year. Remember - change doesn't happen in one day, it's all about progression.

Serena Oppenheim

Founder – Good Zing

Serena Oppenheim is a health and wellbeing tech entrepreneur. She is the founder of Good Zing, an award-winning startup that is democratizing health information, with a focus on improving self-care and health literacy. Good Zing won the 2016 Business of Wellness Pitch Contest and was voted People Choice before its launch in Spring 2017. With expertise in growth strategy, partnerships and SEO, Serena acts as an advisor to a variety of consumer startups in both the US and UK. Prior to starting Good Zing, Serena Oppenheim led a renewable energy venture, developing windfarm projects. After successfully exiting this business, Serena went on to gain her MBA at Columbia Business School. She has a Masters in International Affairs and Diplomacy from SOAS and earned her BA from Brown University.

Lesson learned:

“The power of vulnerability.

In the world of startups there is often the attitude when asked how things are going to talk about ‘crushing it’ to only talking about the positives. My advisors for many years have been telling me to talk more about my own personal health journey and I have been very reluctant to out of fear of being seen as weak, as being seen as not physically able to cope on the startup journey. Then in late 2018 I bite the bullet and wrote an article on living with Fibromyalgia. I was blown away by the support, by people both in the startup community, our experts on Good Zing and our users and have been amazed by the level of vulnerability people are now prepared to show me. As a result, it has strengthened many business relationships and allowed me to work on a schedule that has helped my own health without compromising my business.”